Australian Inventor Perfects Recipe for Vegan Potato Cheese

Cruelty-free leathers and fabrics can be made with kombucha, pineapple, mushroom, and cork, and the options in terms of alternatives in the food-based world are equally innovative–and often just as surprising.

Andrew Dyhin, a Melbourne-based inventor and former chemical engineer, was recently profiled in ABC Rural for his recipe of “melting potatoes like cheese.” According to the article, Dyhin, the CEO of PotatoMagic, “spent the past 12 years creating a range of food substitutes with liquid potato” and “believes his invention could shake-up the food processing sector, creating a believable, plant based alternative to cheese, milk, custard and ice cream.”

Dyhin has stated that “through a series of processes which heat the potato within a specific, controlled temperature range,” and then by chilling it, he has “discovered a way to liquefy potatoes” and that by simply using “essences and salt” he can transform the potato. Calling it “Chato” (cheese + potato) Dyhin also tells Food & Drink Business that his product uses almost 100 per cent of the potato:

“In other kinds of potato processing, around 25 per cent of the potato ends up in landfill because it’s perishable. However, we can take all of that and use it in liquid or hard products, turning it into something sustainable. Chato will make potato a tradeable commodity potentially.”

For those eager to try out this new potato-based cheese, Dyhin told Food & Drink Business that he anticipates Chato will be on the market in the next 18 months.